


The Lost Girl

by ProxyMoron



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 05:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20886899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProxyMoron/pseuds/ProxyMoron
Summary: Just some post season 6 Faith stuff see the end for notes





	The Lost Girl

Feeling Buffy die was like getting torn from the inside out, like having someone drag a knife across her stomach and all of the contents spill out. She didn’t know how she knew, she just did; there had never been two Slayers active at the same time before Buffy was called, so she was certain no one had ever felt this terrible. The connection had been so strange at times, she couldn’t feel it when her sister slayer was hurt but when something had hurt her, really hurt her it felt like Buffy had been plugged directly into her head but it’d been nothing like this.

So when Angel showed up a week later, looking haggard and like he hadn’t slept in a year, he sat there on the other side of the glass for what seemed like a year without saying anything, when he finally picks up the phone and opens his mouth she holds up her hand to tell him she knows. To spare him from saying the words, to spare him anymore pain, she’d already caused so much, too much.

Funny thing was that they never spoke of Buffy whenever Angel came to visit and now they probably never would. It was too touchy of a subject for Faith and Angel was a good enough guy not to bring it up when he came. Now just judging by the look on his face she knew she wouldn’t be able to bring it up...and it was way too complicated of a situation for her to even want to discuss anyway. So, Angel sits there for what seems like forever, a million questions on just how she knows rushing through his head at hundreds of miles an hour. He drops the questions and just gets a grateful look on his face, the weight of her gesture outweighing any questions he’d had. 

She sits there with him, her best friend, the only friend she’d ever had and they don’t say anything because whatever words of comfort she could offer wouldn’t be enough and she’d never been good at that kind of shit anyway. But somehow her presence is enough, Faith had never experienced anything like this before, she’d never really had a friend before. Everyone, in her life had been temporary up to this point because they’d either left or been taken from her. Buffy’s friends had been just that, Buffy’s, sure they had liked her at the beginning but as usual Faith had fucked that up too. And Buffy... she’d been a lot of things with her but friends, they’d never been that.

Associates, colleagues, enemies, yes. Maybe something more at times too back then Faith could swear she could feel it, some fire between them. But then again she hadn’t been on the right side of sane back then either. Angel though, Angel had always stuck by her, maybe because he like her had to look for redemption harder than anyone else or maybe because they had both fucked Buffy’s life up royally at different points. Either way nobody had ever stuck by her through things like he had and at times Faith found herself disbelieving, mistrusting, thinking about what he would want in return for this, but it was a favor he’d never cashed in.

She’d broken out to fight Angelus but that was her decision, she heard he was in trouble and didn’t think twice about coming to help him.

“I think you should go, Faith.” Angel’s voice is is rough and coarse from disuse and Faith can’t believe what she’s hearing. “To Sunnydale.”

To his surprise Faith starts chuckling, low in her throat that eventually evolves into full blown hysterical laughter, after she calms down she sees Angel staring at her eyebrows raised. Clearly unimpressed.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just that I thought you said I should go back to Sunnydale.” She says with a higher than normal voice.

“Sunnydale is sitting right on the Hellmouth and sooner or later they’re going to need a Slayer.” He says seriously, regaining his brooding and dark composure that Faith was accustomed to.

“So go find whoever the hell gets called now, I tried being the Slayer and I fucked it all up. I can’t be the hero you want me to be.” She whispers the last part, afraid of her own voice failing her, she was better off here away from society, she wouldn’t hurt anyone here.

“You already are Faith.” He reminds her. “You saved me from myself, from...Angelus the others helped, sure but nobody fought like you did for me Faith.”

Faith was always annoyed with him when he got all profound like that out of nowhere, she had a theory that it was the old age making him like that. “You and I both know, I’m better off in here away from them, I got my hero moment on the outside. It doesn’t make up for all the shit I did but maybe staying here maybe I can find out who I’m supposed to be in here, big guy.”

“You don’t even sound like you believe that.” He responds without missing a beat and it’s true, in spite of everything Faith was still admittedly a pretty shitty liar.

“Maybe, maybe not, but I’m not willing to risk it.”

“Faith,” Good, he was starting to get frustrated, maybe he would just drop it if she got him wound up enough. “The redemption you’re looking for, it’s not sitting behind these four walls, it’s out there...in Sunnydale.”

“You think I can just waltz into Sunnydale, a week after she’s dead and they’ll, what throw me a goddamn parade? They hate me to start with and what’s it gonna be like when they think I’m trying to replace her.” Now she was the angry one, she could feel her grip on the phone tightening, threatening to break the damn thing with her Slayer strength if she weren’t mindful, and here she thought he’d understand. Understand what it was like to be afraid of yourself, to be empty of everything that made you, you, and filled with anger and guilt and shame. Guess she was wrong.

“I think that if they can forgive me--”

“People don’t forget. Nothing gets forgiven.” She cuts him off and it was the deepest cut she could offer. Deep down he would always feel that Buffy couldn’t forgive him for what he’d put her through. Time would pass and the pain of all that he had done would lessen, but the scars that he caused physical or otherwise would always be there. Even if at the time he weren’t himself, Faith was not so lucky she didn’t have the excuse of a curse that made her lose her soul. Everything she did was all Faith all the time. And that was why as much as she was grateful as much as she...loved Angel for all that he had done for her she knew he could never understand. The person who had fucked Buffy over was Angel minus a soul, Angelus was for all intents and purposes a different person than the one sitting across from her now. She had no such excuse.

He paused a moment and put the phone down on the booth for a moment to calm down, reminding himself who he was talking to, reminding himself not to snap. He placed the phone back against his ear after a long moment in which Faith was hyper aware of everything in the room with her.

“I know what you’re doing, Faith and it’s not going to work.” He smirks and continues before she has a chance to respond. If possible Faith thinks she gets angrier. ”Like I was saying, if they can forgive me they can forgive you. You turned yourself back in after you helped me because you’re ready to get better Faith.”

Faith is quiet for a long moment after that and when she finally responds her voice is shaky but gets steadier as she speaks. “Let’s say I agree with you. I’m still doing 25 to life and ya can’t do a fucking thing about that.” 

Angel responds in a soft voice, almost conspiratorially. “Let’s say I know a guy. A guy so good he can clear your name and get you out.”

“But I confessed!” She hisses lowly and leans closer to the glass to make sure that the guards won’t hear her. “Ya don’t need much else to lock someone up and throw away the key. Open and shut.”

“See that’s the problem with open and shut cases, new evidence surfaces all the time.” His voice returning to normal.

“The lawyer, where’d you find this guy?” She asks curious, this whole thing was giving her a bad feeling that she couldn’t shake.

“The Council.” Are the only two words he’s able to get out before Faith shoots up out her chair wide eyed.

“The Council?!” She looks around at the now tense guards and takes a moment to put herself back into her chair. “Are you out of your fangin mind? After they…” She lowers her voice and looks around and hunches in back closer to the glass.

“They actually approached me with the idea, but it was Giles who set the whole thing in motion, they both know that the world needs a Slayer and while you aren’t the first choice they had you are the best.” He tells her honestly, if there was one thing she could count on Angel for it was honesty.

“Scrapin’ the bottom of the barrel, eh?” Faith responds bitterly.

“You’re the last of the slayer line so when Buffy...suffice it to say there won’t be another slayer called unless you die. Which is not an option.” He adds afterward.

Faith looks down and away for a bit. “No.” She responds looking fearful and swallows thickly.  
“I...I need to stay. All that wrong I did...it can’t be fixed.” She hangs up the phone before he can respond and calls the guard to bring her back to her cell.

Angel hangs up and looks toward the ground. “I’m sorry Faith, but this is already done.”

X  
“Prisoner 908114.” Two days a call comes through her cell door, and she wonders who the fuck is calling for her now. It was nearly the end of visiting hours and she’d hit the gym pretty hard the past few days. So hard in fact that the girls who got messed with the most tried to stick close to her. 

The guard bangs his baton on the door a few times. “Prisoner!” He repeated a little louder, ever since Faith had come here Faith wondered why a female prison wouldn’t at least have mostly female guards. Every man she’d met here appeared to be coming off of some sort of power trip.

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you.” She mutters and he gets a dangerous look in his eyes as she sticks her hands through the slot to be cuffed. Moments later she’s making her way toward the prison entrance escorted by two guards.

“Mind tellin’ me where we’re goin’?” She asked the man in front of her and he simply grunted but as they made their way to the prison entrance the answer became clear because, there was Angel standing there with a duffel bag and a serious look on his face.

“No.” She whispered disbelievingly.

“Prisoner.” The Warden approached from the service desk of the lobby. “As of today, you are no longer a ward of the state but a free woman.” He unlocked her cuffs and she rubbed her wrists not saying anything. “We’ve left all of your belongings in the possession of your companion.” She nodded numbly as the guards walked back into the prison proper.

“Here.” Angel hands her the duffel bag and nodded toward the bathroom. “Go get changed.”

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah this thing has been sitting on my computer for years and I had always had the intention of continuing it but you know how that usually goes. Its super rough and basic. But anyway this would have been my introduction to a fuffy kinda slowburn fanfic so this would have been right after season 5 for Buffy but also after Angel loses his soul and regains it so basically the Angel timeline would have moved to fit what I wanted for this story because I said so. I wanted Faith to sort of already be on the road to redemption but also not be quite there yet. At this point shes sort of shown to the Scoobies that she's changed but not enough time has passed for them to have forgiven or trust her. IMO a lot of Fuffy writers like to go to season 3 and make Faith just not go evil but to me picking up in Season 4/5 with Faith on a redemptive past is way more interesting, like literally just swap her out with Spike and I'd be happy. 
> 
> But anyway for this story it would pick up in that summer where Buffy died. The Scoobies don't trust her at first and she's not Buffy but they sort of become coworkers working together to take on threats. Xander and Willow don't like her but tolerate her but I also think that Faith's relationship with Tara could be really interesting since we KNOW that Tara grew up in an abusive home and everyone that you talk to about Faith headcannons her to have come from an abusive home as well and I think their relationship could be really interesting. Her and Giles, In my story I would have had it be one of the conditions of her release by the Council that she stay with him and then he becomes like a father figure to her her and spike and her and Dawn as well so on and so forth. So I think this would have a cool effect on Buffy's return as well Faith is their slayer for an entire summer in my story they have new routines and a new groove to how they do things, everyone has moved on. Yes they missed her and life without Buffy's not the same but do they need her? Not to mention that she didn't even want to come back. Anyway I'm pretty sure this is longer than the actual story now so this is the end of my stream of consciousness.


End file.
